The Human Clutch

My dad had the best analogy for living with diabetes, “Johnny, everyone else has an automatic; you have the manual.” Having diabetes takes time away from a person’s lifestyle. Managing diabetes can be very painful at times. The amount of stress that diabetes puts on the mind of an individual can seem unbearable. I believe that living with diabetes is a very challenging lifestyle for a young adult.

Managing diabetes is very time consuming. Most teenagers just run in, grab a slice a pizza, and chow down. People with diabetes have to take it a bit slower. Diabetics have to take their blood glucose test first. Then they have to calculate the insulin needed. Sometime diabetes even messes with your working schedule. I have been late to work or school because I had miscounted my insulin dosage. This causes serious health reactions sometimes impairing a diabetic from making any decisions or at times, rendering them completely incapable of taking care of themselves. Diabetes is also physically limiting. Sometimes I have trouble doing things that required a lot of energy.

Some people know about the finger pricks but most have no clue on how much pain diabetes actually brings with managing it. Pricking the fingers to measure your blood glucose level is one of the more bearable pains. I have to prick my finger every time I want to eat anything. I have pricked my fingers so many times that I have calluses on my finger tips. The real “fun” stuff is the injections. A lot of diabetics use syringes inject their insulin. Most of them have to do that every time they eat. I have what is called an insulin pump. There is a small needle that stays right underneath my skin to pump insulin into me for those three days. I have used both methods for injections and both of them hurt.

If life itself wasn’t stressful enough on its own, living with diabetes is glad to help raise the stress level. Diabetics are constantly concentrating on the diabetes. Diabetics are always trying to keep their blood glucose level under control so that their hemoglobin A1C is in the appropriate healthy range. Along with the glucose, diabetics worry about making sure they use the right amount of insulin. Diabetes also causes stress when you have to worry about health insurance. It is all up to the diabetic to manage the illness properly. Diabetes can cause health issues including problems with your weight and your eyes. Diabetics are more prone to having acne that most people.

I believe diabetic research should be funded more by the federal and state governments. I believe it is a horrible disease that should be taken more seriously by those who don’t have diabetes and I believe everyone should be more educated about the health risks of diabetes. I believe with proper funding and education, diabetics can live a less stressful life and health care costs would not be as expensive.

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This week’s essay

Growing up in the former Yugoslavia, lawyer Djenita Pasic enjoyed the peace of her religiously diverse country. But after the fall of communism and the outbreak of the Bosnian War, Pasic was forced to reevaluate her ideas about religion and tolerance. Click here to read her essay.